How to simulcast my ZenVideo event to Facebook

This feature requires an Advanced or Premium plan, or an Enterprise plan with the Events feature added.

There are two ways to simulcast your event from ZenVideo to Facebook: a direct integration with your Facebook account or via RTMP. This article will walk through the requirements and steps for each simulcasting method so that you can stream your ZenVideo event to your Facebook audience with whichever method you prefer.

In this article:

• Requirements for simulcasting to Facebook
• Set up Facebook as a streaming destination: Direct integration
• Set up Facebook as a streaming destination: RTMP

Requirements for simulcasting to Facebook

• Direct integration:
  • You must be the ZenVideo account owner to set up the initial account connection to Facebook. After the connection is made, a ZenVideo account admin or contributor plus can configure an event to simulcast to that Facebook destination.
  • The direct integration does not support streaming to Facebook groups. If you want to stream to a Facebook group, you will need to use the RTMP method.
• Either simulcasting method:
  • You must be able to log into the Facebook account that is either the owner or administrator of the desired profile or page.

Set up Facebook as a streaming destination: Direct integration

You can connect ZenVideo to your Facebook account and simulcast to your Facebook Profile or any page of which you are an Admin, up to 10 destinations at once. 

1. To connect your Facebook account to ZenVideo, first create or navigate to your live event.

2. In the event production page, select Settings, then open the Destinations panel.

3. Click Connect next to Facebook.
   
4. Facebook will open in a new window prompting you to authenticate the ZenVideo app. If your Facebook account does not automatically appear, make sure to log in to the Facebook account in the same web browser, then go back to your live event settings and click Connect again.
5. Follow the onscreen prompts and choose the default privacy for the live events ZenVideo posts to Facebook. These privacy settings only affect your stream on Facebook and do not change the event settings on ZenVideo.
6. Next, adjust the toggles to limit or grant permissions to post content in different places on the Facebook account, such as specific groups and pages. Select OK. You will be redirected back to the Destinations panel in your live event settings page on ZenVideo.
7. Click Add next to Facebook to add a Facebook destination for your stream.
8. Select the Facebook destination you wish to simulcast to and adjust Facebook’s privacy setting as desired, then click Save.
9. When you’re ready, go live to your ZenVideo event; it will automatically simulcast to Facebook. Remember that your encoder settings should include the RTMP URL and Stream Key from ZenVideo, not Facebook.

Set up Facebook as a streaming destination: RTMP

Another way to simulcast from ZenVideo to Facebook is to get the RTMP URL and Stream Key from your desired Facebook destination and input them into your ZenVideo event's Destinations setting. This method allows for up to 20 simultaneous destinations.

1. Follow Facebook’s instructions to Go live on Facebook using streaming software. This instructs you on Facebook’s requirements for going live on their platform and how to find the server URL and stream key, which ZenVideo needs.
2. On ZenVideo, create or navigate to your event.
3. In the production tool, select Settings at the top of the page.

4. In the right-hand menu, open the Destinations panel.
   

5. Scroll to the bottom of the panel to find RTMP, then select Add.
   

6. An RTMP streaming settings modal window will open on ZenVideo. Input a Destination name (e.g. "My Facebook page"); this serves as a descriptive label for you.

7. Copy and paste the Server URL and Stream key from Facebook into the corresponding fields on ZenVideo. (On Facebook, the “Server URL” is the RTMP URL.) Then click Save.

8. When you're ready, go live on ZenVideo from your encoder.

9. Once you are streaming from your encoder, you will receive a live video and audio preview in Facebook. Confirm that the video and audio are correct and in sync. You must select Go live now in Facebook in order for your live video from ZenVideo to be posted to your Facebook audience.

10. As a best practice, stop the live feed on Facebook first. This will end the stream on Facebook and post it as a video. You can then end the stream on ZenVideo.